My invention relates to folding knives, often referred to as pocket knives, and more particularly to knives having means for the disassembly of the knife for cleaning or replacement of parts.
One knife of the prior art designed for disassembly is that described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,061,927 issued Nov. 6, 1962, to O. von Frankenberg und Ludwigsdorf. In that knife, a screw holding the blade is removable after a lever applying pressure to one or more springs is rotated. The internals, i.e., spring and lever, can be then removed; however, the side pieces remain in their spaced relationship due to transverse rivets. Thus, the interior of the case cannot be fully cleaned.
Another prior art knife is that disclosed in my co-pending patent application "Folding Pocket Knife Having Replaceable Blades". In that knife, a set screw passing through the lock-type back spring is the primary locking element. After removal of the screw and the back spring, rotary unlocking motion of a second spring disengages locking pins permitting even the side plates to be removed. While only one tool is required for the disassembly operation, that tool might not always be available when disassembly is desired.